| The Secrets of a Beautiful Life |
Chapter 21 |
Page 4 |
There is a whole sermon in these lines. There are thousands of good people who do almost nothing with their life because they are waiting for God to send the thread before they will begin to weave the web of duty He bids them to weave. They say, “I want to be useful; I want to do good; but God has not given me anything to work with.” Now, the truth is, that God has given them enough to begin with, and that is all He will give at first. There were only five barley loaves, and there were five thousand hungry people. What were these among so many? But for the web begun God sent the thread that day. There was only a little meal in a barrel and a little oil in a cruse, and there were years of famine yet to be passed through. But again for the web begun God sent the thread.
The teaching is for us, and it is one of the most practical lessons we can learn. Put your hands to the tasks that are surely yours, never asking whether you are able to do them or not, and not waiting for God to provide all the strength or all the material you will need, before you begin to do the. What ever is your duty must be done, no matter how far beyond your strength it may be. It is yours to begin; it is God’s to help you through, and He will, if you honour Him by trusting Him.
Those who live lives of great usefulness have always begun with the little they had. Ofttimes it was a very small capacity for helping others; but they began in a quiet way, doing what they could. Then as they used the gift they had, it grew in their hands, until they filled a large sphere of usefulness, touching many lives with the benediction of their helpfulness. For a web begun God sent the thread.
The same law of human diligence and Divine blessing prevails in the building up of character. Ten lepers cried to Jesus for healing. He answered, bidding them go and show themselves to the priest. This was what the law required lepers to do after they had been cured, when the priest would give them a certificate of health and cleanness, permitting them to return again to society. These lepers were not cured. Their bodies showed no mark of healing. But they promptly obeyed the Master’s word, and “as they went they were cleansed.” There are those who long for a beautiful life, for a transformed character, but it seems to them they never can attain to such renewal, they are so full of faults and blemishes. But if they begin to follow Christ, starting with the little fragment of Christ likeness which their hands can pick up, God will help them and they will grow at last into rich beauty of soul. Get the victory over the one temptation of the hour, and that will be the first thread in a web of complete victoriousness. Get one little line of loveliness into your disposition, and that will be the beginning of a spirit which at last will include “whatsoever things are lovely.” For a web begun God will send the thread.
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